Adoom's 1981 Mini 1000

[Adoom]

Spent like 3 hours making two seat brackets. But didn't like them. I guess I'll start again.

[Adoom]

I'm glad I decided to cut out the lumpy bits where someone had welded in captive nuts.

OMG!

Much better.

 

[Adoom]

Before I could weld the companion boxes in I needed to sort out a mount for the seatbelt reel.

The companion boxes came from a MK3 which had static belts so there is no mount for the reel.

MK4 onwards had a mount like an inverted bathtub that was spot welded only to the sheet metal of the companion box. It always seemed a bit weak to me.

My mounts might be a bit over-engineered. 2.5mm thick, the crush "tube" is 25mm round bar. It's spot welded to the b-pillar and welded to the inner sill with a reinforcing plate.

 

[Adoom]

And done the other side. Also stripped off some more glue and tar seam sealer off the seat panel with turps and the brass wirewheel.

Buuuuuut, when I drilled the hole from the inside using the boss in the seatbelt bracket to align the drill..... I discovered that the boss is not flush with the panel like the other side.

There's a 7mm gap  Le sigh.

Well, I'm not cutting all those welds off, I don't think the panel will survive the operation.

I think I'll try slide a washer of the appropriate thickness into the gap and drill a couple small holes in the panel so I can spot the washer to it. The bolt just needs to be a little longer.

 

[Adoom]

It has a rear seat again. Like a REAL car!

And a seat base still fits!

[Adoom]

I made the 7mm spacer and tacked it in so it stays there.

[Adoom]

I thought I'd do some work on the poor neglected mini.

I took out the subframe and welded a jig for it on my steel bench so I could cut it up and weld new bits in and have it still bolt into the car.

I used the plasma cutter for the first time in years and years.

After cutting it up I realised that I'd mounted it too low to fit the engine in the subframe while it's in the jig. Le Sigh. I guess I can work around that by fitting the engine in the car to ballpark where stuff needs to go then use the jig for the welding.
I've since added some tabs to the jig to prevent the front mounts from turning on the bolt.
Right now, the big bit of the subframe is in the paddling pool full of citric acid to clean it up a bit.

[Adoom]

The engine is pretty much in the only place it fits. With more trimming around the back of the subframe I might get another 10mm before the gearbox meets the steering rack.
I'm going to step the top/front corner of the inner wing into the guard to get a little more clearance off the corner of the head.
I threw some "stunt parts" in the hole to see if there is any chance this is going to work.

Mounting the turbo at the front will have almost all of it in front of the grill.... But if I put it over the gearbox... There might be enough room to run the manifold under the engine, then up the back to the turbo then back down for the dump pipe.
Loads of room if I top mount the IC.... interwarmer styles. Gonna need a powerful fan and vents...

 

Only done the lower control arm mounts so far. Still got to make a bridge under the top arm mount.

I trimmed the inner guards and hammered some new flanges to put some stiffness back in them. Turned out quite good!

There will be a CV and driveshaft here to try get an up and down pipe around. 

[Adoom]

Oh and alternator will be high mounted behind the oil filler cap, that seems to be a std solution in other K11 minis. 

[Adoom]

Aren't they just the cutest little wheels. So glad my fancy brakes fit. with half a gnat's foreskin to spare.
I'm fairly sure they are 'straya contessa "minilites". 10" X 5"

[Adoom]

Giving the mini project some love.

On the car, I made some cardboard templates and marked limits of where tubes could end. Then rough cut the tubes to just longer than the correct length.

Then wrestled it out past the engine and bolted it to the jig on my steel table.

Once I got the pipes in where I thought they needed to go and welded enough that they would stay in place. I trial fit it in the car again.

Now how to get the engine back in there....
I lifted the car up even higher on blocks and wobbly scissor jacks, to slide the engine under front the front.

Then 3D tetris for at least an hour to get it up into place.

 

It's tight.

I will need to add some clearance to the box section here. My engine mounts are stiff, but probably not that stiff. An engine steady bar may also be required.

The right side tie rod mount is the main clearance issue here.

This pipe is way out here to clear the front pulley(by 8mm!) but I've realised it will interfere with the lower shock mount. So I'll be adding a bend. That flappy plate will get gussets later so it can't bend.
The other side might need the same treatment, but it doesn't stick out nearly as far.

I'm hoping, when I'm done, I'll be able to install the subframe on the engine, the lower the car onto it.

[Adoom]

Subframe getting there. Engine moved a bit over to the passenger side for tie rod clearance.

I had to rework the gearbox mount because I initially did it without shims and it was WAY TOO tight.
I'm trying to find somewhere to add more bracing to the front tierod mounts since I've had to trim them a bit.

[Adoom]

Gear wobbler installed. I can get all gears.
The rods needed to be shortened. And a small area of the tunnel needed to be massaged in by 5mm for clearance.
 The nissan rear rubber was very soft so the gear change was not great. I got some urethane mounts intended for an original mini linkage and have mocked up a bracket. MUCH better now.

Made some clearance for the back of the intake plenum. It won't get in the way of the brake and clutch mechanisms.

A factory radiator "fits". I think I will cut out the inner wing on this side too, so it fits a bit better. The bottom pipe will need to be in the middle to go between the mounts.

[Adoom]

Alternator has got to be WAY up here.
Fortunately, I have a spare engine on the bench.

Those two bolt holes are 8mm. Not sure if I'll be overloading them with that bracket. I could tie it into one of the 6mm bolts for the cam sprocket covers. Maybe with a long bit of 2.5mm flat bar so it can flex a little to allow for some bolt misalignment. 

Got to make an adjuster thingy off the lug behind the water pump that also clears the firewall.

Just realised I only took photos before welding the bracket...